Motivated by the current (2011) political climate in Wisconsin it seems reasonable to devote some time and effort to comment on issues and some of the hyperbole. So we in the public should do what we can to help focus "journalists" on delineating real facts versus spin. If you accept the spin you do not understand the policy implications.

Police continue Camera Abuse - MN

Andrew Henderson watched as Ramsey County
sheriff's deputies frisked a bloody-faced man outside his Little Canada
apartment building. Paramedics then loaded the man, a stranger to
Henderson, into an ambulance.

Henderson, 28, took out his small handheld video camera and began
recording. It's something he does regularly with law enforcement.

But what happened next was different. The deputy, Jacqueline
Muellner, approached him and snatched the camera from his hand,
Henderson said.

"We'll just take this for evidence," Muellner said. Their voices
were recorded on Henderson's cellphone as they spoke, and Henderson
provided a copy of the audio file to the Pioneer Press. "If I end up on
YouTube, I'm gonna be upset."

Henderson calmly insisted he was within his rights to do what he was doing. He refused to give his name.

His is the latest in a string of cases nationwide involving citizens who record police activities.

...

"I wish the police around the country would get
the memo on these situations," said Jane Kirtley, professor of media
ethics and media law at the University of Minnesota. "Somebody needs to
explain to them that under U.S. law, making video recordings of
something that's happening in public is legal."

The courts have been "pretty clear" on the issue, Kirtley said.
"Law enforcement has no expectation of privacy when they are carrying
out public duties in a public place."

Randy Gustafson, spokesman for the Ramsey County sheriff's office,

declined to discuss details of the case, saying it is an "ongoing investigation."